1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fluid couplings and, more particularly, to a quick connect fluid coupling.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many previously known quick connect couplings of the type used in the automotive industry. Such quick connect couplings are, for example, typically employed in the fuel system for the automotive vehicle.
Many of these previously known quick connect couplings include a housing open at each end and having a throughbore extending between the ends of the housing. A retainer having inwardly extending tabs is then positioned within one end of the housing. A metal conduit having an outwardly extending bead formed circumferentially around the housing is then insertable into the first end of the housing until the locking tabs on the retainer engage one side of the conduit bead thus securing the housing and conduit together. In doing so, the fluid passageway formed through the conduit registers with the housing throughbore and completes the fluid connection.
For many of these previously known quick connect couplings, the housing was constructed of metal and had an enlarged diameter bore at a first end of the housing in which the retainer was positioned. In order to secure the retainer to the housing and thus prevent retraction of the retainer from the housing, the first end of the housing was typically rolled inwardly in order to form a radially inwardly extending annular abutment surface around the first end of the housing. The abutment between the retainer and the abutment surface prevented the retraction of the retainer from the housing.
While this previously known construction for quick connect couplings is effective in operation, the use of metal housings for the quick connect coupling increases the overall cost for the quick connect coupling and, for that reason, is disadvantageous.
Consequently, there have been a number of previously known quick connect couplings in which the female housing is constructed of plastic. Since it is not possible to roll plastic like metal, it is necessary to utilize other means in order to secure the retainer to the female housing. The previously known methods for securing the retainer to the female housing, however, have not proven entirely satisfactory in use.
In one type of previously known quick connect coupling, a molded plastic retainer is inserted into the female housing. The plastic retainer, furthermore, includes locking tabs which engage openings formed in the female housing in order to secure the retainer against retraction to the housing. This construction is disadvantages for several reasons. First, the plastic retainer, since it must be formed by molding, is relatively expensive to manufacture. Secondly, the plastic retainers are not as strong as the previously known metal retainers of the type used with metal female housings so that the fluid coupling exhibits a lower pullout resistance than the previously known couplings which use metal retainers.
Still further types of quick connect couplings which utilize plastic female housings utilize multipiece assemblies in order to secure the retainer to the housing which increases not only the complexity of the overall design but also the overall cost of the coupling.
There have been previously known quick connect couplings having a plastic housing and a metal retainer; my prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,056,756 and 5,054,743 disclose such connectors. In order to secure the retainer to the housing, it was necessary to both utilize a complex retainer shape and also angularly align or orient the retainer to the housing so that a port of the retainer was entrapped in a cut out formed in the housing. Both problems increased the cost of manufacture of the connector.
Although the use of a metal retainer with a plastic housing having annular abutment surface would eliminate many of the previously known problems of the plastic retainers, it has not been previously possible to mold a plastic female housing having an annular abutment surface necessary to retain a metal retainer. Such an annular abutment surface of the type previously formed by rolling one end of a metal housing is not possible for a plastic female housing since an "undercut", i.e. a continuous radially inwardly extending annular abutment surface, cannot be molded.